Tapenade

Depending upon which part of France you are, this can be highly fragrant with mountain herbs and fresh, almost acidic olives or rich and creamy, more butter than olive.

The former is made with finely chopped green olives, cultivated and wild herbs alike, anchovies in some and with capers and olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste and each household seems to have its own recipe proportions.

My particular favourite is really a very salty, butter based tapenade that took me three or four months to perfect.  My neighbour, Gerri, was half French and half Irish.  A single mother with two jobs and a talented artist, but who never had time to cook like "Mama" who, on only two occasions, did I meet, before finally giving in a few years later, Gerri moved to France to live with her.

I was already experimenting with food and having not met my food mentor Collete yet, my cooking for Gerri was out of books and the travel writings of Elizabeth David.   

Gerri had said how her mother tended to use a lot of butter, the tapenade was quite bitter but also doubled as a flavouring for roast birds and simple fillings.

Finally I came up with a very moist (and must admit not very healthy) tapenade.  The amounts below will make approximately 500 grams of tapenade.  It should last more than a couple weeks in the fridge and if you are using it for toast or crudités or as a base for tapas, I would leave it out for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.

• One block (approximately 250 grams) of softened unsalted butter
• 150 grams of mixed green and black pitted olives, chopped finely
• 20 grams of parsley, finely chopped
• 10 grams of thyme, finely chopped
• 10 grams of marjoram or oregano, finely chopped
• A small jar of anchovy fillets in oil, chopped and then mashed
• 10 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Three dessert spoons of capers, chopped
• One medium onion, finely chopped
• One large chilli without seeds, finely chopped (optional)

All of these ingredients are combined thoroughly.  No salt is obviously required and the proportions, especially the amount of butter interchangeable or partly imitable with olive oil.  If the tapenade is to be used for roasting, especially to cover chicken, turkey or game, I tend to exchange half of the butter for olive oil and, if used on red meat, add rosemary and crushed bay leaves.